ALBAY Rep. Edcel Lagman yesterday decried the House leadership’s move to recommit the divorce bill to the committee level for not having any budget provision, saying it is meant to “delay and derail” the bill’s passage.
The House Committee on Population and Family Relations chaired by Isabela Rep. Ian Paul Dy sent back without any alteration to the Committee on Rules House Bill No. 9349 titled “An Act Reinstituting Divorce as an Alternative Mode for the Dissolution of Marriage, which was approved by the panel in March last year.
The rules committee, which is chaired by the House majority leader, is in charge of referring bills and resolutions to various committees and scheduling the measures for plenary deliberations.
The plenary last month recommitted the bill to Dy’s panel as the measure did not have a budget provision but Lagman said it was done “without any reason or justification” because there is no such House rule.
Lagman, the bill’s principal author, said it was belatedly disclosed that the bill should be referred to the Committee on Appropriations even if “there is no rule of the House which requires that bills without an appropriation language be referred to the Committee on Appropriations.”
“Only bills with appropriation language are referred to the appropriations committee. The divorce bill has no appropriations language,” said the senior lawyer-lawmaker.
Lagman said there had been precedents wherein bills without an appropriation language have been enacted, like Republic Act No. 11596 (“An Act Prohibiting the Practice of Child Marriage and Imposing Penalties for Violations Thereof”) and House Bill No. 8910 or “An Act Providing for a National Policy in Preventing Adolescent Pregnancies and Institutionalizing Social Protection for Adolescent Parents.”
Lagman said the appropriation cover of a bill, if necessary, can be provided for by the plenary during the period of committee or individual amendments since the plenary “has superior authority than the Committee on Appropriations.”
The need for an appropriation language can also be supplied in the Senate counterpart bill or can be provided for in the bicameral conference committee, Lagman said.
He also said the need for funding can be provided for in the annual General Appropriations Act or the national budget.
